UnKnown(PUBLISHED)

Nine

It was breathtaking. The grass looked so healthy, with flowers blooming out of it; the trees seemed so lively, standing up straight. A breeze of the wind softly kissed the side of our faces, the leaves on the trees waving at us as if welcoming us to the world. We could hear the sound of the birds; one even flew by us as we walked down the path. The sound of a lake sounded so far away, yet so close, and I was sure the lake was as beautiful as the forest. I could imagine how clear the lake would be with a couple of rocks within, maybe even some fish jumping out.

"This is Andromeda? How is this bad?" I asked quietly, stretching my arms out to the side. "Everything is so beautiful and so warm." I stopped walking, tilting my head back so that the sun beamed onto my face. Rylan stepped in front of me, watching.

"It's an illusion." A small voice replied, startling us. I opened my eyes, glancing around for the source of the voice. There were no movements other than the swaying of the tree's leaves and the sound of the lake, but as Rylan and I started walking again, we saw a quick movement of white and red.

"What do you mean it's just an illusion?" I asked, following the sound of footsteps. As we neared another field, I grabbed Rylan's arm, stopping him from moving any closer. I kneeled, pulling him along with me as I watched the girl.

This girl wanders through the fields of the soul, expressing the green (flower) as she sways her arms toward the meadow. Finally, she stopped and turned toward where we were kneeling. Her eyes were what caught my attention first. Her eyes were the color of chocolate with a deep forest-green that swirled together, creating the perfect color of hazel. The light freckles dotted on her cheeks revealed the color in her eyes.

"This is not how the forest looks. Not anymore." The girl answered before she reached her hand out toward us and then swiftly moved it to the side. A barrier that we had not seen broke, causing the beautiful forest to crumple, and something much worse took place.

The once lively forest was now desolated and gloomy. The trees were hunched over and stripped of their leaves. The grass was no longer there; instead, the ground was bare, with a few dead leaves that crunched underneath our feet. The birds that once chirped with happiness and flew above our heads with glee were now crows, watching us closely from the branches.

"What happened to this place? Why is it like this?" I asked, slowly walking over to the girl as I looked around. Everything was dead. The girl tucked a strand of velvet hair behind her ear as she looked down at the ground sadly.

"When twins are born, their childhood is unlike other children's. Yes, they may get to play, but they also train. Once they reach a certain age, it is determined who is the evil twin and who is not."  The girl started explaining. "Despite the differences between the twins, they brought life to this place.  If the good twin dies or suddenly disappears, the bad twin destroys everything. Their powers go out of control, creating this. We've had twins... I don't know what happened to the good one, but the bad one is now running loose."

"We? Twins? How... I'm still confused."

"We took care of the twins when their parents weren't around. They were so adorable, running around playing, but they did not know what their life ahead of them would be like. We trained them every chance we got.." She explained. I stopped walking, my eyes widening. Rylan turned around, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. His mouth was moving, but I could not hear him.

...
"How much longer do we have to do this?" A younger Arianna complained, opening one of her eyes. Another girl stood beside her with her eyes closed as well, but from her fidgeting, she, too, did not want to do this.

"You promised we could play. We've been standing here for hours, Meadow." The girl groaned, opening one of her eyes as well. Meadow frowned, her hazel eyes narrowed at the two girls.